Parents Need to Eat Too: Nap-Friendly Recipes, One-Handed Meals, and Time-Saving Kitchen Tricks for New Parents [Paperback]

Debbie Koenig (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 21, 2012

It is an undeniable truth: Parents Need to Eat Too! Food and parenting writer Debbie Koenig addresses the dilemma faced by so many parents coping with the demands of a new baby by offering simple, healthy, and delicious recipes for moms and dads who are too sleep-deprived, too frazzled, or simply too busy to cook nutritious meals for themselves.

From dinners that can be eaten with one hand (while you hold baby in the other) to slow cooker culinary masterpieces and full courses to prepare while baby naps, Parents Need to Eat Too is filled with tasty, easy-to-make recipes, helpful kitchen tips, and real solutions to the problems faced by hungry parents.
 
Parents Need to Eat Too has been named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2012 by Leite’s Culinaria, whose Editor-in-Chief Renee Schettler Rossi called it the “What to Expect After You’re Expecting” and said that the book “savvily and sassily helps you extend the efficiency of any time spent in the kitchen.” A must-read for new parents!

Editorial Reviews

Review

If only this book came with every box of newborn diapers or baby blanket! New and seasoned parents alike will find delicious and simple recipes - from first nibbles to toddler tastes and fullgrown meals enjoyed together (Emily Franklin, author of Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids and 102 New Recipes, and founder of wellcookedlife.com )

With more than 150 recipes, intelligent healthy tips, and comments from real moms just like you, Parents Need to Eat Too will be your go-to resource and make you the confident parent you want to be. (Eileen Behan, RD family nutritionist and author of The Baby Food Bible and Eat Well Lose Weight While Breast Feeding )

“Finally, a book that reminds new moms: yes, your life may be totally wrapped up in feeding your baby right now, but you need-and deserve!-to eat well, too.” (Meagan Francis, author of The Happiest Mom: 10 Secrets to Enjoying Motherhood )

“I laughed, I learned, I dreamed up a hundred fantastic meals while reading Parents Need to Eat Too.“ (Melanie Rehak, author of Eating for Beginners )

“Parents Need to Eat Too should be on every baby shower registry.” (Jen Singer, author, the Stop Second-Guessing Yourself guides to parenting )

“You don’t have to be a parent to learn from Debbie Koenig’s eminently sensible book.” (Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life )

“This book is a must-have for new parents who enjoy eating good food with real flavor.” (Leah McLaughlin, Editor in Chief, Edible Communities/Edible Queens )

“If only Debbie Koenig’s Parents Need to Eat Too had existed back [when I was a new parent]. Every new parent should ask for Debbie’s book as a baby shower gift!” (Leah Ingram, author of Suddenly Frugal: How to Live Happier and Healthier for Less )

“Reassuring is the first word that comes to mind when reading food writer Koenig’s first cookbook, in which she provides doable, affordable meal solutions for new parents.” (Library Journal )

From the Back Cover

The question is as old as parenting itself: How can new moms and dads eat well when all their time and energy is spent on baby? Finally, we have the answer!

Specifically designed for frazzled, sleep-deprived parents, every recipe in Parents Need to Eat, Too is nutritious, delicious, satisfying, and EASY. As a bonus each recipe includes instructions for preparing baby food from the same ingredients. Plus every recipe has the added advantage of being tested by a group of more than 100 new parents.

Inside you'll find:

• Meals you can eat with one hand
• Recipes for the new parent's best friend: the slow cooker
• More ambitious recipes, broken down into simple stages to perform while baby naps
• “Un-Recipes” for parents who can't cook at all
• Recipes that support breastfeeding
• Advice from experts, including a pediatric dietitian and a lactation consultant

Here are real solutions for the real problems new parents face in the kitchen. Through comforting, honest, and essential help for stressed out, undernourished moms and pops, Parents Need To Eat Too ensures that nobody will go hungry!

Parents Need to Eat Too has been named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2012 by Leite’s Culinaria, whose Editor-in-Chief Renee Schettler Rossi called it the “What to Expect After You’re Expecting” and said that the book “savvily and sassily helps you extend the efficiency of any time spent in the kitchen.”

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; 1 edition (February 21, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062005944
• ISBN-13: 978-0062005946
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Debbie Koenig is a food, diet, and parenting writer whose work has appeared in dozens of publications, including Parents, American Baby, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Weight Watchers. In between assignments and packing school lunches, she juggles three blogs: her personal blog plus ones for Weight Watchers and BabyCenter. Koenig lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her omnivorous husband and their young son, an otherwise adorable child so stubbornly picky he's practically non-nivorous.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but fussy...just like my son. July 23, 2012

By Tanya

Format:Paperback

I decided to purchase this book after stumbling across the author's blog. I was desperate, Googling "simple baby food" info all night. My son was growing out of his stage three foods and showing great interest in table food. I am a working professional who has spent eight years in graduate school, but is petrified of the kitchen. I needed a cook book with relatively simple, nutritionally sound recipes I could reference in the kitchen while chasing my restless toddler around. This book, while certainly entertaining and informative, is, well "fussy". Don't get me wrong, it is helpful to read the intro information about pantry preparation and parent friendly short cuts (I went out and purchased Rao's marinara sauce and a slow cooker the very next day), but I find the recipes are needlessly complex and geared towards urban "foodies" with every type of exotic ingredient at their immediate disposal (I live in the burbs, about 30 miles outside of NYC). I have yet to find the elusive anchovy paste for my sauce in my local LI Trader Joes, Stop n Shop or Target and somehow I don't imagine my now 13 month old would love a recipe that includes red wine vinegar or sherry (I've tried champagne salad dressing, but no luck;). Physically, this book is also not kitchen friendly...a thick paperback book whose print practically melted off the page the first time I spilt a drop of water on it. While I have enjoyed making steel cut oats (one of the simplest recipes possible) in my new slow cooker, even this recipe required that I Google the "water bath" method for slow cookers. The author assumes, with no photos or illustrations in the book, that a novice like myself will know what the heck a "water bath" is (I don't know, maybe I am dense?). I am not sorry I bought this book, as it does provide a seemingly endless array of recipes to try, and the main theme of the book is to provide recipes that the whole family can eat, not just baby food. That being said, I do think that it needs to be streamlined and more kitchen friendly. I think the author, who is a gourmet food blogger, tries to cram too many ideas in and winds up with a dizzying array of exotic recipes and techniques (got me to thinking...can't I just mix Annie's Mac and Cheese with some avocado and chicken and call it a day?). Also, I know it may seem a little low-brow and not particularly, "green", but a spill resistant hard cover and the occasional illustration or photo sure would be helpful for those of us who are a little less culinary oriented.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Super useful cookbook for everyone, not just parents! February 21, 2012

By Sarah Brassard

Format:Paperback

The recipes in this book are just great! I've tried many of them, and everything has been both delicious and easy to prepare. I love the nap-time cooking method, for preparing dinner in the little chunks of time while your little ones are asleep or otherwise occupied - with 3 young children, that really makes a difference in dinner getting to our table on time.
We're vegetarians, and while this book includes non-vegetarian recipes, there's more than enough in it to make it worthwhile for families who don't eat meat. Overall, it's a great cookbook to help parents cook foods that the whole family will eat, in amounts of time that are practical, without depending heavily on convenience foods. There's plenty in here for the experienced cook with lots of cooking savvy and a shelf full of cookbooks, but also great information if you're just getting started in the kitchen.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, but not knocking my socks off July 7, 2012

By BostonAmy

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased this book after seeing that 100% of reviews (at the time) were 5 stars. Clearly, it was a book that I needed as a new mother. It has been a good addition to my small cook book collection, and some of the advice is very sound. I have cooked many recipes out of it (but there are still many to go), and it is one of the first books I pull off the shelf when I want to plan the weeks' meals.

Here's why I don't give it 5 stars: the recipes are good, but not amazing. They're solid, parent friendly, not-too-fussy, but more fancy than just opening a few cans and jars dishes, but 5 star worthy? Nope. Also, My husband, who is 6'3' and likes to eat has mentioned that some of the meals that I've made out of this just don't satisfy as much as he would like - they feel like snacks to him.

So, would I recommend this to a friend? Sure. Would I buy it for them as a gift? Maybe. Do I regret buying it? Nope. When I want hands-down-amazing food, will I turn here? Probably not.

Hope that's helpful.